The crack of bat against ball is the sound that usually thrills crowds at Fenway Park, but it was the slightly muffled sound of plastic-against-plastic that excited a group of MIT students this week.
Five members of the Kappa Sigma fraternity got the chance of a lifetime when they took to the field at Fenway Park for the "Wiffle Your Way to Fenway" championship held May 8. Larry Colagiovanni G, Shawn Sullivan G, Jeff Hoff '07, Jonathan Schechter '08 and Naveen Krishnan '07 won the MIT qualifying tournament and, with it, a bid to play at Fenway Park.
"We had all been to many Red Sox games in the past and dreamt of being on the field," said Colagiovanni. "It was great to finally have it come true."
To add to that dream, every one of the MIT players can also say they've gotten a hit in Fenway Park. The rules of Wiffleâ„¢ ball differ from baseball (the game eliminates base running) but teams still work together to hit singles, doubles, triples and home runs that advance imaginary runners "around the bases."
Nine schools from the Boston area were represented this year but the winner of the tournament wasn't one of the nine. The winner of this event is always the Pan Mass Challenge. Teams have to win a qualifying tournament to get to Fenway but play for fun once at the park. All of the money collected from qualifying tournament entry fees is donated to the Pan Mass Challenge. This year the event raised almost $1,000.
"Wiffle Your Way to Fenway" is an annual tournament hosted by the Red Sox and sponsored by Coca-Cola New England. The on-campus tournament is run by MIT Campus Dining each spring.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on May 23, 2007 (download PDF).
